Shim Wan-koo (;; 1 July 1938 – 8 June 2020) was a South Korean politician who served as the first elected

Mayor of Ulsan The Mayor of Ulsan () is the head of the local government of Ulsan who is elected to a four-year term. List of mayors Appointed mayors (before 1995) From 1945 to 1995, the Mayor of Ulsan was appointed by the President of the Republic of Korea ...

. He was a member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

from 1985 to 1992.

Early life and education

Shim was born in Songho Village, Yaum-ri, Daehyeon-myeon, Ulsan-gun,

Keishōnan-dō was one of the administrative divisions of Korea under Japanese rule, with its capital at Fuzan (present-day Busan). The province consisted of modern-day South Gyeongsang, South Korea. Population Number of people by nationality according ...

( South Gyeongsang Province),

Korea, Empire of Japan Between 1910 and 1945, Korea was ruled as a part of the Empire of Japan. Joseon Korea had come into the Japanese sphere of influence with the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876; a complex coalition of the Meiji government, military, and business offici ...

on July 1, 1938. He graduated from Sungkyunkwan University; majoring in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

Political career

Member of the National Assembly and Mayor of Ulsan (1985-2002)

Shim ran for the

Ulsan Ulsan (), officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall, with a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighboring ...

Ulju-gun Ulju County ( ko, 울주군; Hanja: 蔚州郡; ''Ulju-gun'') is a county occupying much of western Ulsan, South Korea. Administrative divisions *Beomseo-eup *Eonyang, Eonyang-eup *Onsan-eup *Onyang-eup *Cheongnyang-eup *Dudong-myeon *Duseo-myeo ...

electoral district in the

1981 South Korean legislative election Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 25 March 1981. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II'', p420 The new electoral system for the National Assembly implemented a sy ...

and but came in third place with only 18.44% of the vote. He ran for the same electoral district in the

1985 South Korean legislative election Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 12 February 1985.Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II'', p420 The result was a victory for the Democratic Justice Party, which w ...

and was elected along with Kim Tae-ho of the ruling Democratic Justice Party. He ran under the

Reunification Democratic Party The Reunification Democratic Party (, RDP) was a political party of South Korea from 1987 to 1990. The party was established in April 1987 by Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam, splitting from the New Korean Democratic Party. The party faced anothe ...

for the

Nam-gu Nam-gu (), or " Southern District," is the name of a ''gu'' in several South Korean cities: *Nam-gu, Busan *Nam-gu, Daegu * Nam-gu, Gwangju *Nam-gu, Incheon *Nam-gu, Pohang *Nam-gu, Ulsan Nam District (Nam-gu) is a district of Ulsan, South Korea. ...

electoral district in the

1988 South Korean legislative election Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 26 April 1988.Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II'', p420 The result was a victory for the ruling Democratic Justice Party (DJP ...

and was elected for a four-year term. He ran for the same district in the

1992 South Korean legislative election Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 25 March 1992.Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II'', p420 The result was a victory for the Democratic Liberal Party, which won ...

, but lost to Cha Soo-myung. Shim was elected as

in 1995, however as

took its current form as a metropolitan city on July 15, 1997; making Shim's official term start from July 15, 1997. He left the conservative

Grand National Party The Liberty Korea Party () was a conservative political party in South Korea that was described variously as right-wing, right-wing populist, or far-right. Until February 2017, it was known as the Saenuri Party (), and before that as the Hanna ...

on September 14, 1998, and joined the more liberal

National Congress for New Politics The National Congress for New Politics (; NCNP) was a political party of South Korea. History The party was formed in 1995 as the National Congress for New Politics after Kim Dae-jung returned to active politics following his retirement in 1992 ...

that was led by Kim Dae-jung. He was sentenced to jail in 2002 for accepting bribery from a construction company, but all charges against him were dropped and he was later pardoned by Roh Moo-hyun.

After serving as Mayor of Ulsan (2002-2020)

While Shim supported conservative candidate

Lee Myung-bak Lee Myung-bak (; ; ; born 19 December 1941) is a South Korean businessman and politician who served as the 10th president of South Korea from 2008 to 2013. Before his presidency, he was the CEO of Hyundai Engineering and Construction, and the ma ...

during the

2007 South Korean presidential election Presidential elections were held in South Korea on 19 December 2007. The election was won by Lee Myung-bak of the Grand National Party, returning conservatives to the Blue House for the first time in ten years. Lee defeated Grand Unified Democra ...

, he supported liberal candidate Moon Jae-in during the

2012 South Korean presidential election Presidential elections were held in South Korea on 19 December 2012. They were the sixth presidential elections since democratization and the establishment of the Sixth Republic, and were held under a first-past-the-post system, in which there ...

. He supported

Song Cheol-ho Song Cheol-ho (; born 26 May 1949) is a South Korean lawyer and politician and currently serves as the mayor of Ulsan. Life Song Cheol-ho was born in Busan in 1949 and he grew up in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, where his father was born. Son ...

's campaign for

in 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shim, Wan-koo 1938 births 2020 deaths Mayors of places in South Korea Wan-koo